Vehicle-pole



(No Model.) v I 2 SheetsSheet 1.

' T. W. PORTER.

VEHICLE POLE.

No. 397,934. Patented Feb. 19, 1889;

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T W. PORTER.

I VEHICLE POLE.

N039'7,934. Patented I'eb. 19', 1889 I WITNEEEEE J VENTUR l mdz 14 W m,%4$z

IlNrrnn STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

THOMAS IV. PORTER, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSE'ITS.

VEHICLE-POLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,934, dated February 19, 1889.

Application filed October 6, 1888. Serial No. 287,364. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. PORTER, of Chelsea, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usef Lil Improvement in Vehicle-Poles, which will,

in .connection with the accompanying drawings, be hereinafter fully described, and specifically defined in the appended claims.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a vehicle-pole embodymg my improvements, the front portion being broken away to allow a larger scale of drawing. Fig. "2 is a detached side elevation showing a part of the cross-bar, the coupling thereto secured, an d a portion of the oblique side stay and shank of the draft-eye. Fig. 3 is a detached sectional top plan view, the section being taken as on line Z Z, Fig. 2, and the plan showing the draft-eye, the shackle, and a portion of the axle. Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken as on line X, Figs. 5 and 6, and

showing the coupling, the rear portion of the formed in two parts or subdivided by horizontal line a, said parts being formed with an 7 5 cross-bar, and the eyebolt that locks the draft-eye in the coupling. Fig. 5 is an under side plan view of the coupling alone. Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on line IV, Fig. 2, and viewed as from the left in that figure. Fig. 7 is a detached plan view of the coupling with the shank of the draft-eye in place therein and with a change in the locking device. Fig. 8 is a transverse section taken on line V, Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is also a section taken on line V, Fig. 7, but showing another change in the locking device. Fig. 10 is a vertical section taken in the axial line of the crossbar at its lineal center and showin the )ole and cross-bar coupling in transverse section in its relation to the cross-bar. Fig. 1] is a transverse vertical section taken on line S, Fig. 1. Fig. 12 is a similar section taken on line R, Fig. 1. Fig. 13 is a side elevation of the rear portion of the pole, and showing the cross-bar in cross-section and as secured to the pole by the coupling. Fig. 14 is a vertical section taken in the axis of the pole and coupling and transverse to the cross-bar.

This invention relates to that class of poles which are employed in light vehicles, (carriages and sleighs,) to which vehicles either one or two horses may be harnessed, thus requiring the shifting from shafts to a pole,

and vice versa, and as in many instancessuch as in livery-stablesit is necessary to use the same pole in divers vehicles in whlch,

owing to want of any established standard,

locking, and supporting said drafteyes, in

means for connecting the stays with the cross bar, and in means by which the pole and cross-bar are coupled together, as will, in connection With said drawings, be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring again to the drawings, A represents the pole, B the evener, O C the whiffietrees mounted on the evener, and D the crossbar, all which are in and of themselves old, common, and well known. shown tubular, and preferably formed of gaspipe, and for the purpose of securing it to the pole I have provided the metallic coupling E,

eye, I), to receive bar D; also with straps o, extended along the top and bottom of the pole, with short side cheeks, d, which, in conjunction with straps c, produce'the short socket c,

in which to insert the rear part of the pole,

said coupling having corresponding holes in its upper and lower parts to receive the securing-bolts d g, the former of which is close to bar D and serves to clamp it firmly in the coupling. halves of the coupling to enter a corresponding hole in the bar to insure it from either rotative or lineal displacement, and a chamber or recess, 72, formed in the interior of eye I), renders it feasible to ream the hole in 0 said eye to a standard size for the reception of bar D.

To each end of bar I), I secure a metallic coupling, F, having in a portion of its length an axial passage to receive freely shank II of draft-eye I, which, as shown, is by pivotboltj secured in shackle J, which by clip K is secured on axle L in the well-known manner. W'hen bar D is of metal, as shown, it

and the inner end of couplings F are corre- I00 spondingly threaded and secured together, as shown; but if bar D were of wood, then the Said cross-bar is 70 A pin, 1', is formed in one or both 8 5 inner portion of said couplings would preferably terminate in straps, as does coupling E atthe intersection of said bar with pole A.

To secure shank ll rigidly in position in coupling 1 when properly adjusted, I preterably employ eyebolt 7:, which is inserted in the rectangular open slot Z of the coupling, (which latter is at that point slightly enlarged on its under side for that purpose,) while the l )olt-li ke portion extends up through the circular passage on and has threarfled upon it nut n, which is seated upon boss j), formed upon the top of the (f0l11')llllg.

It will be obvious that as shank H passes freely through the eye of bolt 7:, therefore when nuts or are slackened the draft-eyes I may be adjusted at the requisite distance apart to enter shackles J, when, by tightening nuts 02, the draft-eyes are rigidly locked in couplings F.

Instead of forming coupling F with slot Z and employing the eyebolt 7c, the rear end of the couplin maybe formed with several longitudinal slots, a, through its shell, and abinding-nut, t, be duly threaded to the taper portion of the coupling, so that by actuatin said nut the shank H may be firmly gripped or be liberated at will, the nut being preferably formed with a rectangular portion, 1!,l10 re ceive an actuating-wrench or, if preferred, the shank ll may be locked by means of a setserew, r, threaded in the coupling at boss 1'), as shown in Fig. 9.

The oblique stays (l are at their frontends secured to the pole in the usual manner; but at their rear ends they are secured by screws to the offsets q 8, formed upon couplings 1*, thus giving stability to all the parts and se curing said couplings from possibility of rotation and eonsecpient slackening of their threaded contact with cross-bar D.

I form the rear end of stays G at right angles to the axis of the pole, to which to attach the rear end of the cl'ieck-straps oi the evener, the front ends of said straps being secured to loops y on the evener, a knob, :11, being torn'ied upon the end of said stays to hold the strap in place thereon; or, if preferred, the rear end of said stay may terminate in a loop or eye to which to attach the straps.

I am well aware that it is old to employ in carriage -]:)olcs a crossbar that is tubular either in part or the whole of its length, and that it is also old to insert the shank of the draft-eye in the axial 'lzilssagc in such hollow bar, and that it is common to secure said shanks in the bar by a set-screw threaded in the wall of the bar, or by correspoiulingly tl'ireading the shanks and interior of the bar, so that the shanks may be turned inward or outward.

I am also aware that it iscommou to secure the rear ends of stays (,lto the ends of bar D by either bolting them thereto or by :t'orming a ring on the stay to receive the end of the bar.

1 am also well aware that it has long been common to unite two parts of a carriage where one is transverse to the other-such as the pole and cross-barby a metallic coupling, and the several locking devices are in and of themselves old; hence] do not/broadly claim any of said devices, my invention consisting, lnoadly, in the combil'iation ot' a 110 1. low metallic coupl ing, the cross-l var, and drafteye, and the (annihilation ol such coupling also, the combination of such couplin and a clamping device for securing the draft-eye therein, and also in the novel features of the coupling that unites the pole and cross-bar, all as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention-- 1. In a vehicle-pole, a metallic coupling formed to receive the end of the crossbar, and with an axial passage therethrough to receive the shank of the draft-eye, and having a looking device to rigidly secure said shank in position adjusted, substantially as specified.

The metallic coupling h, formed to receive a cross-bar, and with a diminished axial passage to receive shank ll, and having a transverse passage ctmsisting of slot and hole at to receive an eyebolt, substantially as specified.

The coml'lination of bar 1), coupling 1", having an axial passage, dralitteye I, having shank ll, adjustable in the coupling, and a locking device whereby the (Ilrat't-eye is rigidly secured in said coupling when adjusted, substantially as specified.

4-. The con'ibination of cross bar 'l'), coupling F, draft-eye shank II', and eyebolt It, pro vided with nut. 12, all substantially as specified. V

5. In a vel'iiclepole, the cmnbination, with cross-bar D and stays (1, of a. tubular coupling the axis of which is an extension of that of said bar, and having an offset or offsets to receive said stays, substantially specified.

6. The combination, with bar I) and stays G, of coupling F, l'iaving the hollow threaded offsets to receive the stays and securingdiolts, s u bstan tiall y as speciti ed.

7. The combination, with pole A and crossbar 'D, of coupling E, formed in. two parts, with an eye, I), to receive said bar, a recess or chamber, e, to receive the rear end of the pole, the perforated securing-straps c to receive bolts 9, and a transverse passage near eye I) to receive the bar-clamping bolt (1, substantially as specified.

9. The divided coupling F, formed to receive the pole, and with a circular transverse passage to receive bar 1'), as described, and pin 1', formed intcgrall y with one oi the halves of said coupling and adapted to interlock with and secure said bar I) from rotary or lineal displacement, substantially as specitied.

with. the crossbar and pole-sta s- .lI I'OM AS W. POR'IE] t. lVitnesses:

EUGENE Ilumumnr, RALPH W. E. HOPPER. 

